Brisbane election 2016: Labor's light rail would link UQ and Newstead

Work on a new $1.2 billion Brisbane light rail system between the University of Queensland and Newstead would begin within the first term of a Labor council administration, lord mayoral candidate Rod Harding pledged on Sunday.

However, the plan was almost entirely dependent on securing both state and federal funding for the project.

The proposed route of Labor's planned light rail system for Brisbane. The dotted line represents the second stage. Photo: Supplied

Both new bridges had been factored into the $1.2 billion cost, Mr Harding said, which would cost the council $140 million.

That included $20 million for the project's business case and $120 million on capital cost, which accounted for 10 per cent of the total budget.

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Mr Harding said the Gold Coast light rail project was funded under a similar model and he was confident both the state and federal governments would get on board the Brisbane light rail.

"We've had discussions with the state, and the Premier is on the record as saying that light rail is something that she likes and certainly we know the Prime Minister is a big fan of light rail" he said.

"So I feel very confident in the discussions I'll have once we produce a business case around light rail in Brisbane."

Mr Harding said the cost of $133 million per kilometre was based "benchmarked against the Sydney light rail experience".

Even with Infrastructure Australia already identifying Brisbane's proposed Cross River Rail as a priority project, Mr Harding said he was confident he would be able to extract even more money from the federal government for the Queensland capital.

"I think these are complementary projects and both of them should be funded and will be funded," he said.

Mr Harding said if the state and federal governments did not offer funding for the project, he could seek support from the private sector.

"There's been no shortage of private sector interest knocking on the door looking at modern light rail in Brisbane, there's no shortage of it," he said.

"I've certainly had commercial-in-confidence discussions, so there is definitely appetite for modern light rail and why wouldn't there be?"

In the future, Mr Harding said the network would be expanded to link the Princess Alexandra and Royal Brisbane and Women's hospitals, along with other destinations such as Suncorp Stadium.